Last time I looked, The Sopranos Family Cookbook (Warner; $29.95) was riding high in the best-seller lists, like a newly anointed mob captain. To be fair, it backs up its swagger with clever tongue-in-cheek narrative, color photos of the stars and recipes for braciole, “Sunday Gravy” and other Italian-American classics.

        But forgive me, Tony. This ain't the cookbook for me.

        My new favorite is The Zuni Cafi Cookbook (Norton; $35), written by Judy Rodgers, chef-owner of the San Francisco restaurant. I was introduced to Ms. Rodgers' cooking in 1991. After interviewing Alice Waters, owner of the acclaimed Chez Panisse in Berkeley (forgive me for name-dropping), I asked her where to eat in San Francisco.

        “Go to Zuni Cafi,” Ms. Waters said. “Eat the roast chicken.”

        I remember seeing a man shucking oysters at the Market Street restaurant and being led through a series of creaky stairs and narrow hallways to our table. I'm often disappointed by food when there's such high expectations. But the Zuni roast chicken was wonderfully succulent, subtly flavored by herbs and wood smoke. And so simple.

        Four years later, in a phone interview, I asked Ms. Rodgers how to roast the perfect chicken. Now, it's satisfying to see the same advice in her book: Start with a small (less than 4 pounds chicken). Salt it well and early (at least a day in advance). And roast it at high heat. That's it.

        Ms. Rodgers' first book violates much of the formula for cookbook success: There are sparse photographs and drawings, no quick, easy-to-read lists or sidebars, and the recipes are long-winded. The recipe for her famous roast chicken and bread salad, for instance, runs three and a half pages.

        But Ms. Rodgers spends much of the recipe explaining why it's important to dry the chicken thoroughly before roasting, where to add a little extra salt and how to adjust the oven heat to achieve the best results. Not often do you find a cookbook that puts the chef in your kitchen, explaining - as if over your shoulder - how the food should look, smell and taste.

        In other chapters, the St. Louis native tells readers how to choose ingredients, taste and compose dishes. Her recipes reflect her food experiences in France and Italy, as well as her love for California ingredients and respect for simplicity.

        This is the book for not just serious cooks, but serious food lovers. Buy the Sopranos Family Cookbook for friends. Buy The Zuni Cafi Cookbook for yourself.

Zuni Roast Chicken with Bread Salad
        CHICKEN
        1 small chicken (2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds)
        4 sprigs fresh thyme, marjoram, rosemary or sage, about inch long
        Kosher or sea salt
        About teaspoon black pepper
        SALAD
        Generous 8 ounces slightly stale, open-crumbed, chewy, peasant-style bread (not sourdough)
        6 to 8 tablespoons champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
        Salt and black pepper
        1 tablespoon dried currants
        1 teaspoon red wine vinegar, or as needed
        1 tablespoon water
        2 tablespoons pine nuts
        2 to 3 garlic cloves, slivered
        1/4 cup slivered scallions (about 4 scallions), including a little green
        2 tablespoons lightly salted chicken stock or water
        A few handfuls of arugula, frisee or red mustard greens, washed and dried

        One to three days before serving: Remove and discard the lump of fat inside the chicken. Rinse the chicken and pat dry inside and out. Create two pockets with your finger under the skin of the breasts; do the same on the thickest portion of each thigh. Stuff an herb sprig into each pocket. Season chicken liberally all over with salt and pepper (about teaspoon per pound of chicken). Don't season the inside cavity. Twist and duck the wing tips behind the shoulders. Cover chicken loosely and refrigerate.

        Up to several hours in advance, make the bread salad: Preheat broiler. Cut bread into a couple of large chunks, carving off most of the crust. Brush bread with olive oil and broil briefly on both sides to lightly color surface. Tear chunks into irregular 2 to 3-inch pieces, yielding about 4 cups.

        Combine about 1/4 cup of the olive oil with the champagne vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Toss about 1/4 cup of this vinaigrette with the torn bread in a salad bowl. Taste and correct seasoning with more vinaigrette, if needed. Place currants in small bowl and moisten with red wine vinegar and 1 tablespoon warm water. Set aside.

        To roast chicken, preheat oven to 475 degrees. Preheat oven-proof dish or pan over medium heat. Wipe chicken dry and place breast side up in pan. Place chicken in center of oven and listen and watch for it to brown in the next 20 minutes. If it doesn't, raise oven temperature progressively until it does. If the chicken begins to char or the fat begins to smoke, reduce temperature by 25 degrees.

        After about 30 minutes, turn chicken over. Roast another 10 to 20 minutes, then flip to recrisp skin, another 5 to 10 minutes. Total roasting time will be 45 minutes to an hour.

        While chicken is roasting, toast pine nuts in hot oven a minute or two, just to warm through. Add to bowl of bread.

        Place a spoonful of the olive oil in small skillet, add garlic and scallions and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until softened. Don't let them color. Scrape this mixture into bread and fold to combine.

        Drain the plumped currants and fold in. Dribble the chicken stock or warm water over the salad and fold again. Taste the bread and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and/or a few drops of vinegar. Put bread salad in 1 quart baking dish and tent with foil. Place salad in oven after you flip chicken final time.

        To serve chicken, remove bird from oven and turn off heat. (Leave bread salad in oven to warm for another 5 minutes or so.) Lift chicken from pan and set on plate. Pour most of the drippings from pan, discard or save for another use. Add about a tablespoon of water to the hot pan and swirl it.

        Slash the stretched skin between the thighs and breasts of the chicken then tilt the bird and plate over the roasting pan to drain the juice into the drippings. Set the chicken in a warm place to rest. Set a platter in the oven to warm a minute or two.

        Tilt the roasting pan and skim the last of the fat. Place over medium-low heat, add any juice that has collected under the chicken, and bring to a simmer. Stir and scrape to soften any hard drippings. Pour the warm bread salad into the salad bowl. Drizzle and toss with a spoonful of the pan juices. Add the greens, a drizzle of the vinaigrette and fold well. Taste again.

        Cut chicken into pieces, spread the bread salad on the warm platter and nestle chicken in the salad. Makes 2 to 4 servings.

        - The Zuni Cafi Cookbook

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